Planet 51 (Review)

This movie was so insubstantial in its content that its almost not worth talking about. An alien world that is currently in the middle of their variation of the 50's is sent into panic when a human crash lands on the planet. An optimistic teenager has to help the human get back to his spaceship before the government captures him for typical genetic experimentation. Apart from some of the amusing parallels to the general attitudes and trends of the 50s (which the movie never really uses to it's advantage either), this movie doesn't have much to hold on to. Most of the jokes in the film are simple butt jokes and while those can be funny, this movie lazily assumes that just the word "butt" is funny. There are few laughs here and there, but the movie really goes no where as the plot develops, throwing in "exciting" explosions and more lame jokes as it approaches a surprisingly dull finale. There is a lack of originality that is evident in every moment of the film. Back to the Future, Mars Attack, E.T, Aliens, WALL-E, and even District 9 have some reference or influence to the plot. I think it would be a much better use of time to watch one of the many movies Planet 51 was "inspired" by than to actual sit through the film itself.

Astro Boy (Review)

I have to admit to never seeing anything related to Astro Boy other than a GBA video game and a parody on "Freakazoid", this American reimagining of Osamu Tezuka's famous manga is my first proper exposure to the franchise. In the movie, Toby the son of Dr. Tenma is killed by a battle robot when General Stone fails to heed some warning about plugging negative energy into a battle 'bot. Stricken with grief, Dr. Tenma rebuilds Toby as a robot, hoping to fully replicate his son in a form where he will be able to defend himself with bizarre upgrades like rocket boosters and guns in his hands. Of course, the new Toby is more than Dr Tenma bargained for and he's also powered by positive energy, something that General Stone would love to get his hands on.

Astro Boy is a middle of the road family film, though it does at least attempt to be more than a fun kids movie. The thing that is most surprising about it is that the movie is pretty dark for a flick aimed at the little ones: a child is technically killed on screen, the movie has strange political undertone to it (General Stone is an obvious model on George W. Bush), Astro Boy is rather harshly disowned by his father and even Asimov's Laws of Robotics play a role in the storyline. Sadly, the movie really missed a great opportunity by choosing not to truly explore any of these concepts (apart from the Toby's death, which is essential to the plot). Sure, most of this would go over the heads of the children watching this, but there's enough decent humor and action to keep them entertained.

The future world that most of the movie takes place in is wonderful to look at, full of funny details and humorous robots. The concepts applied to this portion of the movie are intriguing so it's somewhat depressing that one again the movie forgoes this unique setting for a bland garage dump and a dull sub-plot with some under-developed kids that's just too ordinary and too obvious in children's entertainment. I mean seriously, what was the point of creating a fantastic world that was full of great storyline potential, if they're going to spend half of the movie away from it? The action scenes(when the film finally gets to it) escalates into some fairly impressive sequences of Astro battling giant robots. These scenes are expertly choreographed, and they move at an exciting pace. Action is clearly this movie's strength. I didn't really hate Astro Boy (though I'm sure kids will love it), I just hate that it showed so much potential only to waste it.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself (Review)

Madea Goes to Jail failed to get me interested in seeing anymore Tyler Perry movies, so I didn’t have any intentions on seeing this one until I was dragged to it anyway by friends. Well, I figured it couldn’t be too much of a waste of time. The film has some kids breaking into Madea’s house, who proceeds to call their aunt, April to look after the brats. Naturally, April has her own problems like her abuse of alcohol and her dirt bag married boyfriend. A handyman named Sandino moves in with her to repair her home and bonds with the kids. April faces the usual conflicts associated with every Tyler Perry film before coming to a proper decision before the credits roll.

I must admit I was surprised by this movie. Maybe it was because I wasn‘t expecting much, but I enjoyed it. Sure, the melodrama is uninspired and sees April having to make choices that any sane person would solve instantly like having to choose to be with a disgusting, degrading, and just plain evil married man or a friendly sexy Mexican guy who likes to help others, but it’s mostly pulled off effectively thanks to decent casting. Taraji Henson in particular is a wonderful lead actress as she knows what to do to convey her character’s emotions and as a result they feel natural, while Adam Rodriguez is likable as the required knight in shining armor. The kids are played well, though their main job is to act cute and sympathetic. Their backstory and current dilemma is ridiculously cliche, only missing physical abuse to complete their sob story. There are also some outstanding R&B performances in a nightclub by some big name artists like Mary J. Blige and Gladys Knight that resonate with the themes of the story

Madea Goes to Jail was a schizophrenic film, flipping randomly between comedy and cheap hard-hitting melodrama; this outing is way more consistent. Madea is still the highlight as far as spitting rapid fire jokes and one liners are concerns and the film does a good job of letting the humor bounce off of the emotionally charged moments without feeling abrupt. The downside is that the comedic moments are more prominent in first half of the movie and almost nonexistent at the latter end, but luckily it doesn’t affect the overall tone as badly as in Madea Goes to Jail. Although the movie doesn’t change my opinion of Tyler Perry films, at least there’s a chance that his talents are starting to improve.

Obsessed (Review)

Obsessed tells the story of Sharon and Derek (played by Beyoncé Knowles and Idris Elba), a happily married, beautiful young couple who find their lives shaken by Lisa (played by Ali Larter), a shameless and totally psycho woman who temps at Derek's office. As the film's title suggests, Lisa becomes ridiculously enamored by Derek and attempts to sexually assault him everywhere from the men's room during a Christmas party to a business retreat and it only gets worse from there. After a certain amount of time and after the couple's baby has come into play, Sharon catches on to Lisa's stupidity and the two have the big old catfight that the whole movie's promotion was based around.

Obsessed is nothing more than a weak version of Fatal Attraction. The various actions of the main characters are ill-defined and rather frustrating and it doesn't help that their every move is telegraphed well in advance thanks to run of the mill writing and direction. The worst of the bunch is the villainous Lisa for the which the film makes no attempt to supply a motive or even a misunderstanding for the young woman's creepy behavior. She just becomes crazy for Derek after a normal conversation in an elevator for no reason other than what I assume is sheer mental retardation. I spent most of the movie snickering at her increasing loopy actions to snag Derek and none of these actions are suppose to funny...they're just stupid.

Derek is played well by Elba, but his character is forced to act rather moronically simply for screenwriting necessity. Derek is a faithful, honest man and never shows any interest in Lisa. Despite Lisa's increasingly disturbing behavior, he only once makes an attempt to properly tell someone about it. Derek doesn't tell any of this to his wife until after Lisa's actions go too far and as a result the trust between them is broken and he gets kicked out of the house. Everyone then treats Derek as if he actually slept with the temptress and for all this grief he might as well had. Beyonce does what she can to bring life to Sharon's character but falls flat. The film tries to make her sympathetic, but she unfortunately falls for the undesirable role of overly sensitive wife. She professes her trust for her husband only to forbid him explicitly from working closely with women of any kind. When she finally finds out about the trouble with Lisa, she's rightfully upset for not being told about but she over reacts by kicking Derek out of the house for 3 months. Sharon isn't given much to do until the finale where she and Lisa duke it out. The fight scene is scene is well choreographed and fairly intense though it doesn't make up for the rather mediocre nature of the rest of the film. I recommend Fatal Attraction over this film, until Beyonce and Ali Larter duke it out at the end, this is one uneven film.

Madea Goes To Jail (Review)

Before seeing this film I'd never seen a movie or play in the Tyler Perry canon. For the last few years, I've just ignored the series, passing it off as a group of over hyped mediocre dramas and comedies. The only knowledge of the series I'd acquired through the years is that one of the recurring elements of the films is Tyler Perry in drag as a fat old cantankerous woman (The titular Madea).

If I had to pick one word to describe "Madea Goes To Jail" it would be schizophrenic. The movie swings wildly from a fairly well done comedy to a slow plodding drama. This is the result of 2 storylines that barely connect to one another. The comedic story naturally deals with Madea's run in with the law while the dramatic storyline deals with Joshua, a district attorney, trying to help his college friend turned prostitute, Candace, make a better life for herself.

The title of the film is unbelievably inaccurate. First the movie is far more concerned about Joshua's drama than Madea's latest misadventure. Second, Madea doesn't actually go to jail until the third act with roughly 25 minutes left in the film.

The Madea story is pretty damn funny, Madea steals every scene she appears in with abrasive one-liners and a mild sarcastic wit. The highlights being her anger management sessions with Dr. Phil and her encounter with a prissy white girl in a K-mart parking lot. The schizophrenic nature of the film shines when the more prominent district attorney/prostitute story takes over. The best example of this is when Joshua tearfully explains why he is trying so hard to help Candace. This is the big emotional moment of the film and right when it abouts to hit home...we cut to Madea doing something funny.

The dramatic saga of Joshua and Candace is just dull and predictable. When Joshua's fiancée Linda mildly over reacts to him helping Candace, we instantly realize that she will be the film's villain and that before the movie's over she and Joshua will break up when he finds out how evil and manipulative she is. This leads to the one thing that pisses me off so much about this part of the movie: Joshua and Candace get together in the end despite neither showing any real interest in one another. Joshua leaves Linda at the alter after finding out what she's been doing and immediately rushes to the prison Candace has been sent to (same one as Madea, providing the only real overlap of the 2 plots) and tells her he loves her. I don't understand American cinema's obsession with shoehorning a romance into every movie regardless of its genre, and this movie doesn't help. I would have respected the movie more if Joshua and Candace had just remained friends.

I've already talked about the movie more than I actually intended to. Bottom line, the movie would have been better if it had focused more on what they advertised the thing as: a comedy staring an old feisty black woman going to jail. This movie was ok and harmless enough to ensure that will be more Tyler Perry movies, but it doesn't make me want to see anything else with the Tyler Perry name.